Consumer electronic devices, such as cellular telephones and tablet computing devices, are commonplace. With these devices, users can communicate world wide with other users, access the Internet, and capture images and/or video to share with other users. Additionally, users can employ these devices to also read e-Books, play games, send and receive email, and tend to their respective social networking sites. The key to being able to perform these functions are the application programs that are resident on, and executed by, the devices.
Almost all of these devices are configured to automatically lock themselves after a predetermined time has elapsed with the device remaining idle. Unlocking the device typically requires the user to press a button or other control displayed on a touch-sensitive screen, or contained on the housing of the device. Sometimes, the user is prompted to enter a password or PIN; however this is not required. Once unlocked, the user is generally presented with a “desktop” or “home screen” having one or more graphic icons—each representing an application program. To launch or access a given application program, the user needs only to select the corresponding icon. However, the process of unlocking the device, finding a specific application, and then launching the application can be cumbersome and time-consuming, especially if the user's device has many different applications installed and/or launching the application is time critical.